Jets running back Chris Ivory broke into the NFL with New Orleans as an undrafted free agent in 2010. He enjoyed living in the city and spent three seasons with the Saints, during which he had 256 carries, 1,307 yards and eight touchdowns. Along the way, Ivory created plenty of fond memories.

He surprised many observers as a rookie, when he had the best year of his time in New Orleans: 137 carries, 716 yards and five touchdowns. He led the Saints in rushing yards. He ran for 158 in his fourth career game – the franchise’s highest total since 2003 and the most by a Saints rookie since Ricky Williams in 1999.

Ivory’s 158-yard day was a remarkable game, at Tampa Bay, as he needed just 15 carries to accumulate that yardage total.

But a foot injury prevented Ivory from playing in the postseason that year, and he was hurt for much of the rest of his tenure in New Orleans. He played in six games in 2011 and six in 2012. His carries and yardage declined both years, from his best season, 2010.

The Saints traded Ivory to the Jets after last season for a fourth-round draft pick. The Jets were in need of a big-bodied back to replace Shonn Greene, after he signed with the Titans. On Sunday, Ivory and the 4-4 Jets meet his former team.

Two games ago, in a win over the Patriots, Ivory carried 34 times for 104 yards – his fourth career 100-yard game. The Jets followed that victory with a 49-9 loss at the Bengals during which Ivory carried just six times for 11 yards, in his 31st NFL game.

Ivory insisted Monday that playing the Saints isn’t a big deal to him. He said he isn’t trying to show the Saints that they should have kept him.

“I just feel like you should treat every game the same,” he said. “It’s just another game. It’s just a team that I came from, so I don’t I think I have to prove anything. Just go out and play.”

The Saints are 6-1 after finishing 7-9 last season, when they allowed 7,042 yards – the most in NFL history, surpassing 6,793 by the 1981 Baltimore Colts. With head coach Sean Payton back this season from a one-season suspension that resulted from the Saints’ bounty scandal, New Orleans is on track again. The Saints went 13-3, 11-5 and 13-3 from 2009-11 and won the Super Bowl in the first of those three seasons.

But the Saints’ turnaround has also resulted from the team replacing defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo with Rob Ryan, the twin brother of Jets coach Rex Ryan. The Saints rank 12th in the NFL with 332.4 yards allowed per game, compared to 440.1 last season.

The Jets are sixth (315), the Bengals eighth (322.5). Statistically, the Bengals are the second-best defense the Jets have played this season, behind Pittsburgh, which ranks fourth in yards allowed (302.9). The Bengals held the Jets to a season-low 240 yards, but Ivory isn’t so sure they boast the best defense the Jets have played in 2013.

“They were a good defense, though,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s the best defense we’ve faced. I’m not sure (which is the best defense). We’ve played better, though.”

Either way, the Saints are coming in with a very different team than the one Ivory played on last year. Not that Ivory has spent a lot of time considering the Saints’ turnaround.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Ivory said. “Right now I’m here with the New York Jets and we’re trying to get our season on the right track and keep it on the right track, so I haven’t really been thinking about New Orleans.”

Ivory has enough on his mind after the Bengals loss.

“I didn’t think the game would get out of hand like that,” Ivory said.

The Jets are still grasping for consistency in this up-and-down season, during which they have followed all four of their wins with a loss.

“You’ve got to be able to do it every week,” Ivory said.

Did he see anything last week in practice that might have indicated a letdown was on the horizon?

“No,” he said. “We just didn’t play well. Simple as that. I think you could see it out there. We just didn’t play well.”